Category Archives: Travel

I went to San Francisco for a conference and a long weekend a few weeks ago and I forgot how much I love that city! The food, the shopping, the parks, the homes, the history, it’s amazing! I wanted to give you a run down of some of my recommendations.

General Tips

Always dress in layers. San Francisco is always colder than people think it will be.

I recently went to Vegas for my friend Courtney’s bachelorette party and had an absolute blast! Here’s some info that might help you with your next bachelorette bash or your next trip to Vegas!

Prepping for the Trip

One month before: Go online and order all the most ridiculous bachelorette games and decorations you can find. Get your wardrobe together.

A few days before: if you’re road tripping it be sure to stock up on rosé/champagne, snacks, and bring an entire case of water. Also consider a case of Red Bull. A wine key/bottle opener is very important as well. Get a manicure/pedicure/brows threaded. Get some cash out.

The night before you go to Vegas: If you are a pale person like myself, you’re going to want to get a spray tan. In the evening take a shower, exfoliate your entire body using exfoliating gloves and a body scrub, then shave wherever you like to shave. When you get out of the shower don’t put on any lotion or deodorant. Wear loose fitting clothes that you don’t mind getting spray tan on and either wear a bikini/bathing suit or nothing at all underneath. Pull your hair up in a bun. I tried Organic Shimmer on Melrose and loved their $19 for first time customers deal. The girl that did my tan was super sweet and told me a funny story about her first bachelorette party. Afterwords be very careful when you are around any water. Wash your hands sparingly. Don’t let water drip down your arms when you brush your teeth. Don’t take a shower or wash off the tan even if you look like a bodybuilder. Make sure you’re ok with all of your bedding getting self-tanner on it, because it will happen. Sleep in loose long sleeves and pants to contain most of the spray tan.

The day you leave: In the morning take a shower and rinse off the outer layer of spray tan. Don’t scrub and don’t use too much soap. Make sure you pack your darkest foundation and lots of bronzer so your face will match your body. Make sure your snacks game is tight. Bring your ID. Pack a lot of aspirin and water.

CN Tower

Not going to the CN Tower is like going to Paris and not going to the Eiffel Tower. This is such a huge landmark of the city and the views are fantastic. The best time of day would be to go about 2 hours before sunset to give you time to buy tickets and get to the top. Definitely splurge for the Skypod which gives you a nice 360 view and is less crowded. Take lots of pictures then go to Horizons which is the more casual restaurant and have some Canadian beers while watching the sunset. Then check out the city once the sun has gone down to get that pretty night view.

I was born and raised in Toronto. I lived there for a full 25 years. On the eve of my 25th birthday, I decided to pick up and relocate to our big neighbor below, the land of opportunity. 9 years later, I can honestly say that the city that I once knew is no more. My friends and family are scattered across the town and world. The city has grown in population and popularity (thanks to Drake and the like.) And so when someone recently asked me for some ideas of places to visit while they were visiting Toronto, I drew a complete blank. It was actually quite upsetting. I love Toronto. I miss Toronto. My fondest memories were experienced and lived there.

Nonetheless, I still took it upon me to inquire and discover the city I once called home and here is what I came up with:

One time when I was about 16 years old I was getting a pedicure at a nail salon when the tech asked me “You want eyebrow?” (as in eyebrow waxing) I told her no thanks to which she replied bluntly, “You need it.” I had no clue how to tweeze my eyebrows so I didn’t do it and here was this woman telling me my brows are a hot mess so obviously I agreed and have been grooming my brows via waxing, threading, and tweezing ever since. You’re probably familiar with waxing and tweezing, so let’s talk about eyebrow threading.

Eyebrow Threading

Eyebrow threading is similar to eyebrow waxing in that you are removing hairs in order to groom and shape your brows for a more polished look. The person doing the threading uses a string or thread that they double and then twist. The person doing the threading holds the string in both hands and hold the loose end of the string in their teeth to pull it taught. They then roll the twisted part over the eyebrow hairs they are removing which snatches the hairs they are removing by plucking the hair out (similar to tweezers) at the follicle level. Unlike tweezing, they can remove several hairs at once. Here’s what it looks like:

Before heading to Paris last fall I asked my friend Julia who has EXCELLENT taste in food and travel where I needed to go and she came THRU y’all! Here’s her list of recommendations along with my commentary and my recommendations in italics: Continue reading Where to Go in Paris→

If you’re a beauty junkie that’s planning a trip to Los Angeles you might be wondering where to buy makeup in LA. I’m not a makeup artist or really “in the biz” so all of these places are also open to the public. I’ll start off by saying that Los Angeles is a large city and even though 2 locations may seem close distance-wise, it can take forever to get between them especially if you are going during rush hour. I’ll start with a few of the big ones you may have heard of that are unique to LA. These are all located in the Valley. I’ve made a Google Map of the best makeup shopping in LA. If you’re coming in from out of town you may arrive at the LAX airport and the Valley is going to be the furthest possible place from the airport so I would not recommend making these your first stops, but here they are:

Tiny map to show you the LAX airport (lower left hand corner) compared to where to good makeup shopping is at.

Last night it was my turn to plan a date and I decided to go with something super sexy… just kidding I picked one of my favorite things to do growing up- painting ceramics. When I originally pitched this idea to my friends to see what they thought everyone immediately pictured the movie Ghost and some sexy clay wheel pottery action, but I researched that and it costs like almost $200 for 2 people so that is not what I did.

My date and I went to Glaze Fire in Silverlake (similar to a Color Me Mine, or my old faves Do Art and Village Paint Pot). At Glaze Fire you pick out a premade ceramic object and paint or decorate it to your hearts content. You pay $10 per person for the sitting fee which includes the supplies (paint, brushes, etc.) and the glazing once you’re done. You also pay for the object you choose to paint. Mine was a regular coffee mug and it was $15 to give you a rough idea. At Glaze Fire they have mostly items that have a purpose too so things you can actually use once you make them. They had plates, cups, mugs, spoon rests, trinket trays, boxes, coin banks, and more. Sarah was working there the night we went and she was awesome at explaining how everything worked and giving us tips on our paintings. Continue reading Date Night Idea – Painting Ceramics→